Santa Ana College Bike Thieves Camera Ready

On one hand, it's great that a former Santa Ana College student and her 16-year-old son have found an activity to bond over.

But, according to campus security, that activity led to the arrest of both and a 17-year-old accomplice.As Editor-in-Chief Margarita Vela writes for the award-winning El Don student newspaper, the trio was busted in late July on suspicion of a bicycle theft.

Courtesy of Santa Ana College Security

Smile, you're on surveillance camera!

Just before the campus closed at 5 p.m. on July 24, two teens took two of three bikes locked on the west side of the U-building before riding them to a waiting green Honda, according to Santa Ana College Security.

Around 3 p.m. the following day, a security officer saw the same car on campus, jotted down the license plate number and handed it over to Santa Ana Police. That same day, the unidentified mother, her son and the other teen were arrested, Vela reports.

Why is campus security so sure they have their thieves? Because of newly installed
cameras that caught the theft on video--despite a sign near the bikes warning "You're being recorded." Apparently, mom never took a logic class while enrolled at SAC.

Through a $1 million campus security program, Vela writes, 150 cameras have been installed and 50 more will soon be mounted, including some that will be able to focus on every license plate that drives onto campus.